The Last Of Us Actor Troy Baker Didn't Remember Who James Was When He Was Cast

Actor Troy Baker portrayed Joel in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us video game series, and in the HBO series, he plays a villain named James. In an interview with Polygon, Baker discussed the role and the fate of his character. Spoilers for The Last of Us follows below.

First, Baker acknowledged that when he was cast as James, the lieutenant to Scott Shepherd's sadistic, cannibalistic boss David, he struggled to remember just who the heck James was in the first place.

"Honestly, when I first found out that I was gonna play James, I was like, 'Dude, thank you so much. It's very, very gracious--who is James?' Because he wasn't a big character," Baker said.

But then Baker remembered, and he got excited for the opportunity to play a character who dies in a horrific manner. "I love death scenes. They're great. One of the advantages of doing a game is that if you're the player character, you get to do multiple death scenes," Baker said.

In the TV series, James meets his demise when he and David slam Ellie (Bella Ramsey) onto a table and prepare to cut her up into pieces to eat. Ellie manages to steal David's cleaver and hacks James in the neck. He crumples to the floor and bleeds out.

Asked how he made his death scene on the show count, Baker said with a laugh, "Sell out every time, because you never know which one is gonna be your close-up."

For more on The Last of Us Episode 8, check out GameSpot's breakdown video above. The Season 1 finale airs this Sunday, March 12, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.